A Cambodian court suspended half of a three year sentence given to a Norwegian man found guilty today of purchasing sex from a teenager after the victim’s mother asked authorities to drop the charges last week.

Rolf Letten, 63, who was arrested in Siem Reap in January this year and charged with purchasing sex from a 16-year-old boy, was sentenced by presiding judge Ly Sokleng in Siem Reap provincial court.

Peng Maneth, a lawyer provided to the victim by the child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants decried the leniency of the sentence today, believing such light punishments were contributing to an increase in sex crimes in the Kingdom.

“The perpetrators should be sentenced as severely as possible and court judges should use deportation measures in order to decrease such crimes,” she said.

She added that APLE represented hundreds of underage sex crime victims, but that in up to 80 percent of cases the victim failed to cooperate because they stood to financially benefit from the accused… read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.